20250212 National Treasure Files: The Treasures Seen in Textbooks

20250212 National Treasure Files: The Treasures Seen in Textbooks The National Museum of China is a place that never gets old, especially the "Ancient China" permanent exhibition. The Painted Relief Stone Carvings of Armored Warriors come in a pair, originally serving as guardian statues flanking the tomb passage of Wang Chuzhi, a military governor of the Yiwu Army during the Five Dynasties period. Both are now housed in the National Museum of China. Carved from rectangular white marble slabs in high relief, each measures 1.135 meters tall, 0.58 meters wide, and 0.117 meters thick, sharing a unified artistic style. The warriors wear domed helmets with upturned neck guards and radiant "Mingguang" armor, their long leg skirts extending down to cloud-patterned boots. Each breastplate features twin heart-protecting mirrors, with shoulder drapes covering their arms as they grip ring-pommeled longswords. Details like neck guards, mountain-shaped shoulder armor, arm protectors, armor ties, and abdominal plates are meticulously rendered. One warrior stands with a phoenix perched on his shoulder and a reclining ox beneath his feet, while the other bears a dragon clutching a pearl in its jaws on his shoulder, trampling a sika deer below. Unlike typical unpainted white marble carvings, this work employs vibrant pigments—predominantly dazzling red for faces and hands, complemented by black, brown, blue, and gold leaf accents on helmets and heart mirrors, suggesting gilded armor. These painted reliefs are national artistic treasures nicknamed "The Returned Heavenly Kings." Bridging Tang dynasty elegance with Song-Yuan innovations, their exquisite craftsmanship—from the warriors' ornate armor and helmet patterns to the dragon's lifelike scales—epitomizes Five Dynasties sculpture, standing as a millennium-defining masterpiece of relief carving.